Increasing data usage, transfer, and analytics demand for greater storage requirements. Luckily, we have technologies that seem to improve and get better just as there seems to be an increase in demands for storage. For businesses, it all comes down to the functionality available at lower prices. Performance, easy of use, dependability, and reliability are doubtlessly paramount. As such, tiered storage – among many other storage technologies – looks futuristic and apt for businesses making more demands on storage.
The apparent genius in tiered data storage comes from simplicity. The concept is not new and dates back to a decade to the use of automated tapes for storage. Earlier, less important data used to be moved to less expensive storage devices and important data resides in expensive devices. That, for you, is the beginning of the tiered storage concept.
Tiered storage is the act of proportioning storage optimally by aligning storage to applications depending on business requirements. As the storage pools grow in size, you’d need dependable hardware & software to work in tandem to actually glean any benefits out of your investment.
Needless to say, you’ll first need to classify your data. Depending on the data set, the need and application of the data you may then apportion them into tiers suc h as Tier 0, Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3.
How frequently is data used? Is it one or recurring? Can the value of data change? Does the data set increase in size over time? Depending on these questions (and many more that relate to your business), data is stored in tiers.
Tier 0 refers to the highest, quickest, data-presented-analyzed-and-whipped-up in a flash kind of requirements. Tier 1 refers to mission critical data and this tier also looks at high, reliable, and solid performance.
Tier 2 can be for lesser critical applications and can store active business data. Tier 3 data is for long-term storage needs and is considered as the fastest growing segment of the industry growing at the rate of 60% each year, according to Fred Moore, President of Horison, Inc.
When you have to decide where tiered storage makes good sense for your business (DLM), don’t go for it because it seems to be the fodder for media. Go for it when it makes economic sense to you. Choosing your vendors should be based on criteria such as ability to add tiers to storage without too much of an involvement from the management.
You should be able to pick the right vendor for each tier. Trust the long-standing, reputed and reliable vendors, even if they seem to be more expensive than some fly by night operators.
We’ll cover more on this in another post. If you need help regarding strategic decision making about your networks, IT infrastructure, Data management or storage, do let us know. We’ll be glad to help you out.
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